Total Body Potassium, Body Cell Mass, and Their Relation to Frailty and Bedside Tools: A Pilot Study in Adults with Cirrhosis

Accurately assessing body composition in cirrhosis is challenging as fluid shifts affect most techniques. The whole-body counter is a state-of-the-art method that measures total body potassium (TBK) unbiased by fluid, from which body cell mass (BCM) is derived. This pilot study in 20 patients with cirrhosis characterized TBK and BCM, and explored their association with frailty; evaluated BCM relationship with the liver frailty index (LFI), bioimpedance analysis-based phase angle, calf circumference (CC), and BMI (body mass index)/edema-adjusted CC. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis and Pearson’s correlation tests were conducted. Adjusted for sex, BCM and TBK were inversely associated with frailty (p<0.0001). LFI r=-0.568 (p=0.009), CC r=0.484 (p=0.031), and edema-adjusted CC r=0.467 (p=0.038), demonstrated moderate correlations with BCM. Further research involving a larger sample of participants with cirrhosis is needed to confirm these findings and enhance our understanding of the association between these advanced body composition measures and frailty.